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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 7:00 pm 
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I do not believe that any articles from any media organasation anywhere in the world should be doing so...

Ponder these reasons:

1. In a democracy the media claims freedom of speech and the right to report on anything it sees fit, they are also given access to people and places the likes of you and me would never be given.

2. During a global emergency such as Covid-19, nobody should have to pay to read what the media have learned from that privileged access.

3. They claim that the 'public has a right to know'... but not every member of the public can afford to pay the price they demand for access to their 'right to know'... how is that democratic?

Why am i posting this?... I tried to read the following article (posted on 24th Oct) on one of the UK's foremost broadsheet newspapers only to find the entire website is behind a paywall...

Quote:
Misery of the Covid-19 long-haulers: ‘We’re all guinea pigs, we don’t know what’s around the corner’
As science scrambles to make sense of Long Covid, its life-shattering consequences are only just being heard

It has a plethora of symptoms, strikes the young and old, and lasts for months – maybe much longer. It’s also so new that scientists aren’t sure what they’re dealing with. For those whose lives have been deeply affected by long-term repercussions of Covid, the battle to be recognised is just the start.... <enter paywall to read further>
Source not supplied because i don't want it to appear as if i have a vendetta against any particular organisation.

I find it repulsive that any mainstream media organisation is trying to make money from a disease that is taking hundreds of thousands of lives and making even more miserable, i will never pay any organisation a single penny that does, no matter how much i'd like to read more.


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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 7:15 pm 
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Don't know if this really applies as it isn't about money but we have a presidential candidate that is now complaining publicly about COVID being too much in the media... He is tired of hearing about it as 'the corner has been turned and our numbers are great' even in the midst of the highest infection numbers since July. How many media sources are going to lessen the output of important information just to appease this candidate???

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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 7:30 pm 
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My understanding is the same presidential candidate is threatening to move back to Scotland if he loses the US election! :shock:
I wish him the best of luck with that if it happens, despite the Scottish Govt giving him permission to build courses where people hit balls with sticks and the environment irreparably damaged, he's not popular in Scotland.


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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:24 pm 
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I thought talking politics on Computer Haven was a 'no-no'. And don't try and tell me that this thread is not going political. :?

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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:37 pm 
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bbarry wrote:
I thought talking politics on Computer Haven was a 'no-no'. And don't try and tell me that this thread is not going political. :?

Ya, it is and I have to admit that I am at fault. Sometimes it is hard to not do so with COVID...

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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:45 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
bbarry wrote:
I thought talking politics on Computer Haven was a 'no-no'. And don't try and tell me that this thread is not going political. :?

Ya, it is and I have to admit that I am at fault. Sometimes it is hard to not do so with COVID...

Consider yourself spanked by Barry! :rofl2:

My bad too :oops2:


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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 9:25 pm 
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Jay occasionally let's me moderate........

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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:01 pm 
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Bringing the subject back to media and paywalls...

I hate paywalls, but I understand the reasoning. Newspapers and magazines existed long before computers and you needed to pay for them to read them, or manage to get a discarded copy. Advertising paid some of the costs to the publishers, but there was still a subscription charge or a single copy cover charge. Some public libraries maintained subscriptions so that the public could read them. Television and radio (at least here in the US) via broadcast is/was free, but is supported by advertisers.

The Internet came along and the game changed. Some publishers continue to provide content for free, but you must allow ads. Other publishers have digital subscriptions available, but allow a small number of article accesses per month for free. Other publishers offer nothing for free and have a paywall. As frustrating as that is, I understand why and accept that it is so.

I believe that information in most articles behind a paywall is also available from other publishers, albeit not by the same authors and perhaps not as detailed. I am sure that there are exceptions. I do agree that publishers should open their paywalls for COVID related information. It would certainly be a service to the population at large and may even yield them a few subscribers.

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 Post Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 11:11 pm 
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sboots wrote:
Bringing the subject back to media and paywalls...

I hate paywalls, but I understand the reasoning. Newspapers and magazines existed long before computers and you needed to pay for them to read them, or manage to get a discarded copy. Advertising paid some of the costs to the publishers, but there was still a subscription charge or a single copy cover charge. Some public libraries maintained subscriptions so that the public could read them. Television and radio (at least here in the US) via broadcast is/was free, but is supported by advertisers.

The Internet came along and the game changed. Some publishers continue to provide content for free, but you must allow ads. Other publishers have digital subscriptions available, but allow a small number of article accesses per month for free. Other publishers offer nothing for free and have a paywall. As frustrating as that is, I understand why and accept that it is so.

I believe that information in most articles behind a paywall is also available from other publishers, albeit not by the same authors and perhaps not as detailed. I am sure that there are exceptions. I do agree that publishers should open their paywalls for COVID related information. It would certainly be a service to the population at large and may even yield them a few subscribers.

I couldn't agree more, the latter especially.


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 Post Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:36 pm 
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Quick follow-up.

I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by "the media" and there attempts to make money out of this global pandemic/emergency.

Take the following examples that are from what i understand to be 'reliable sources':

Coronavirus: ‘long Covid’ patients left with lower IQs and aged brains
https://www.theweek.co.uk/108499/coronavirus-long-covid-patients-left-with-low-iq-aged-brains

Long covid: Why are some people sick months after catching the virus?
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24833064-100-long-covid-why-are-some-people-sick-months-after-catching-the-virus/

Coronavirus could age the brain by 10 years or cause IQ to fall
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-could-age-the-brain-by-10-years-or-cause-iq-to-fall-v9s273rbs

All above are behind a paywall with two posted on the 27th and one on the 28th, i'd like to read more but can't.

While i understand that these outlets need to make money, they are paywalling information they didn't produce for themselves and withholding information from the public who are only trying to understand what's happening (or potentially may happen) to them at a time when Long Covid still isn't officially recognised.

I could understand the paywall if there was any form of investigative journalism involved, but there isn't... they are sourced from publicly available studies by other parties.

Fwiw, i think i've sourced the Imperial College study on the medRxiv website (make up your own mind)?
It's so technical that without a degree in the field i wouldn't understand it in my lifetime, to the point that what's in the 'articles' likely came from a press release, i doubt any journalist would understand any of it either.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.20.20215863v1.full-text

If my suspicions are correct then it stinks that media companies are trying to make money out of people's misery at a time when they should be informing them, they thould be ashamed of themselves.


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 Post Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:41 pm 
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sboots wrote:
Bringing the subject back to media and paywalls...

I got so frustrated today with the newspaper obsession for putting Covid related news behind paywalls that for the first time i actively looked for a way to circumvent them.

It turns out it wasn't difficult, i won't say how i managed it because i don't want to promote so called piracy, but i will say that news orgnisations seriously need to rethink their business model if they think a paywall is a method to replace a paper newspaper in an online environment.

The music and movie industries have re-invented their business models without alienating their client base, i fail to understand why the printed media can't do the same.


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